Piggy's Glasses-
His glasses play a very important role in the novel. They symbolize hope because without his specs, the boys would not have been able to start the signal fire. They tried using various types of sticks and leaves to create smoke, but nothing would
light the fire. However, Piggy's glasses did. Throughout the story, his specs become
an extremely important tool that the boys almost kill each other over. In addition to
symbolizing hope for rescue through the symbol of the signal fire, these glasses can
also show how savage the boys are. When they separated into different tribes, Jack's
group stole the glasses from Ralph and Piggy causing a fight. In a civilized world, the
glasses would not be important enough to cause a fight over, causing them to symbolize how far the boys have strayed away from society and became inhumane. Besides the fact that the glasses show signs of hope and savage in the boys, they also bring out Piggy's wisdom. At one point in the novel, Jack breaks one of the lenses in Piggy's glasses, causing him to only see out of one eye. His wisdom comes from the things and events happening around him and they allow him to give Ralph advice about being chief on the island. Without the two lenses, Piggy's wisdom began to lack because he couldn't see clearly. He was unable to help Ralph as much, causing much of their society to begin to fall apart. Therefore, Piggy's specs can symbolize both hope for rescue and how savage the boys have become, as well as his wisdom on the island.
War Paint-
In the beginning, when Jack started hunting, they could not catch or kill
a pig the first few times. However, after some failures, Jack decided to disguise the
hunters so that the pig would not notice that they were humans. They used various
resources, such as berries and fruits from the island, to hide their true appearance to
the pig. The "war paint" that the boys used symbolizes a foreign warrior who is fighting
and their appearances can relate to Native American face paint. In addition to the war
paint symbolizing a warrior, it also represents the boys lack of society or civilization.
In a real society, the boys would not be hunting in the woods, naked, with paint disguising them. Therefore, the paint symbolizes that the boys have become more savage. Since the paint helped Jack and the other hunters catch the pig, this allowed the boys to feel more confident in themselves and their survival techniques. However, this confidence quickly turned into inhumane behavior. Jack began to believe that hunting was a number one priority and became a beast. He killed a mother pig, as well as contributed to the deaths of Simon and Piggy. All these events started after Jack killed his first pig and without the paint to disguise the hunters, that would have never happened. Also, the war paint can symbolize power over the boys. Not only does killing the pig cause Jack to become more of a leader, but it also caused the boys to lose all sense of society. The paint represents the boys new personalities on the island and shows how they changed from the start. As the novel progressed, the war paint never re-appeared, but because it caused the boys to kill a pig, it changed the way the boys lived and what they lived for on the island. It caused them to think more about hunting and food than getting rescued.
Parachute Man-
There is a war going on for the rest of the world, outside of the boy's island. A parachuter was killed,
and landed dead on the island. All the boys thought that the parachuter was the beast and began to get worried and go crazy. This man symbolizes fear amongst the boys because they are afraid of the beasty. Simon said that man's essential illness was fear and that the beasty was not actually real. Therefore, the dead parachuter can symbolize the unreal horror that the boys have since the beast is a figment of their imaginations. Also, this dead body shows how savage the boys are. They killed Simon because they thought he was the monster during their chant dance and killed a mother sow to give as a peace offering to the beast. The boys continued to go crazy and the essential cause of that was because they were scared of the unknown things on the island. Because there was something, the parachuter, that looked like it could be harmful, the boys automatically jumped to conclusions that this was the beast. Therefore, this body can symbolize both fear and savageness between all the boys. The dreaded images of the beast has caused them to now act inhumane and to turn into beasts themselves. Fear has over powered the boys, causing them to stray further away from society and turn against each other.
The Conch Shell-
The conch shell is arguably the most important symbol throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel,Piggy stumbles upon the shell shortly after meeting Ralph in the first chapter.
Piggy proposed they use it as a method of control over the group of boys, similar to a 'talking stick'. As the plot progresses, the conch shell becomes increasingly important to the last morsels of civilization on the island. Towards the middle of the novel, civilization starts to rapidly deteriorate, though the conch shell still remains effective. This shows the boys still do have civil minds and traces of civil conduct, despite their actions in recent chapters. The lack of supervision and civil conduct on the island sends all the boys into a frenzy by the end of the novel after having lost the two most civil boys, Simon and Piggy. The conch shell acts a their last resort of civilization and humanity before they all become cannibal. The unfortunate conclusion of the conch shell occurs in the last chapter, when Roger smashes it in the raging conflict ultimately between Ralph and Jack. This symbolizes the absolute absence of any morsel of society, morphed into a dystopia.
The Signal Fire- On the beach shore of the island, the boys have built a signal fire. The purpose of the signal fire is to alert people that the boys are on the island. Planes above might see the fire and come save them! This fire is a symbol of hope. The fire is the boys only resource to signal the outside world. It completely controls whether they will be rescued or not. The signal fire is lit by Piggy’s glasses, so whoever has Piggy’s glasses pretty much has control over the fire, therefore controlling chances of being rescued. This causes much dispute between the island boys, and results in Piggy’s glasses being sought after, stolen, and ultimately broken. Also, the boys need the fire to cook food which causes even bigger issues. When the groups split, they steal fire from each other. From the start, Jack never liked the signal fire and thought it was stupid. Ironically, the fire was what eventually got them rescued in the end!
The Beastie-
The beastie symbolizes fear of the unknown in this novel. The boys all think that there is “something out there” on the island which gets all of them anxious and paranoid. The beastie is simply a made up creature that gives them a reason to be scared. There is no real beastie, only a dark, thick, frightening forest. The island is huge and the boys are very afraid of what could be on it. Ralph, Piggy, Simon, the littluns, and even Jack are freaked out by the thought of all the animals and "beasts" on the island. The boys are all scared and they have no adults to calm them. The beastie is just a small thing that represents all the big things the boys are afraid of on the island.
Simon's Clearing-
field with wildflowers
Simon's clearing symbolizes a small portion of peace and serenity in the middle of a chaotic society. When surrounded by nothing but savages, riots, and arguments, Simon, being the most sane and civil boy on the island, escapes daily from the chaos and dystopian society he and the other boys are trapped in. His clearing is set apart from the rest of the island, as an open space with colorful plantings and animals roaming peacefully. Like the conch, Simon's clearing is Simon's reassurance of any morsel of civilization left for him. When Simon visits the clearing each day, he reflects on the day's occurances and clears his mind while gazing at the colorful surroundings. Perhaps the clearing eased Simon's efforts to remain sane. The serenity of the clearing was entirely diminished when the mother sow was brutally killed, which is elaborated upon in the next symbol explanation.
The Head of the Mother Sow-
The killing of the mother sow in Simon's clearing symbolizes absolute savagery and brutality. In such a serene setting, the brutal
murder of a mother sow in front of her offspring makes it clear that the boys have really lost their sanity and resorted to savagery. Their reaction showed no signs of regret. Instead, they continued their ceremonial chanting and rejoiced in their freshly killed meat. At the start of the novel, Simon, Ralph, and Jack went to go explore the island for any humans, and came across a pig. Jack suggested they kill it, (foreshadow of savagery), but all three boys remained tentative. By the end, almost all of the boys find deep, yet guilty satisfaction in killing their own meat and use it as a level of power. After they kill the mother sow they put the head on a stick and plant it in the middle of Simon's clearing, symbolizing total savagery and inhumanity. Soiling the peace and serenity of Simon's clearing with the mother sow's bloodied head is a metaphor for the book as a whole. Like the clearing, the boys start out innocent and peaceful. By the end, savage conduct had overwhelmed civil constraints.
The Boulder-
Piggy was killed by a large boulder pushing him off the cliff. This boulder symbolizes the true savageness in the novel. When Roger physically pushed the boulder, it revealed the real fearlessness to kill of the boys. The boys went totally insane and the boulder was the last straw. However, the boys somewhat learned from their mistakes because in the end they began to cry and were upset about killing Piggy and Simon. The boulder actually "pushed the boys over the edge" (no pun intended) in terms of craziness and savageness. It was the last huge bad event before they were rescued. By killing Piggy, with the boulder, it symbolized the savageness and unbridled ferocity of the boys.
Piggy's Glasses-
His glasses play a very important role in the novel. They symbolize hope because without his specs, the boys would not have been able to start the signal fire. They tried using various types of sticks and leaves to create smoke, but nothing would
light the fire. However, Piggy's glasses did. Throughout the story, his specs become
an extremely important tool that the boys almost kill each other over. In addition to
symbolizing hope for rescue through the symbol of the signal fire, these glasses can
also show how savage the boys are. When they separated into different tribes, Jack's
group stole the glasses from Ralph and Piggy causing a fight. In a civilized world, the
glasses would not be important enough to cause a fight over, causing them to symbolize how far the boys have strayed away from society and became inhumane. Besides the fact that the glasses show signs of hope and savage in the boys, they also bring out Piggy's wisdom. At one point in the novel, Jack breaks one of the lenses in Piggy's glasses, causing him to only see out of one eye. His wisdom comes from the things and events happening around him and they allow him to give Ralph advice about being chief on the island. Without the two lenses, Piggy's wisdom began to lack because he couldn't see clearly. He was unable to help Ralph as much, causing much of their society to begin to fall apart. Therefore, Piggy's specs can symbolize both hope for rescue and how savage the boys have become, as well as his wisdom on the island.
War Paint-
In the beginning, when Jack started hunting, they could not catch or kill
a pig the first few times. However, after some failures, Jack decided to disguise the
hunters so that the pig would not notice that they were humans. They used various
resources, such as berries and fruits from the island, to hide their true appearance to
the pig. The "war paint" that the boys used symbolizes a foreign warrior who is fighting
and their appearances can relate to Native American face paint. In addition to the war
paint symbolizing a warrior, it also represents the boys lack of society or civilization.
In a real society, the boys would not be hunting in the woods, naked, with paint disguising them. Therefore, the paint symbolizes that the boys have become more savage. Since the paint helped Jack and the other hunters catch the pig, this allowed the boys to feel more confident in themselves and their survival techniques. However, this confidence quickly turned into inhumane behavior. Jack began to believe that hunting was a number one priority and became a beast. He killed a mother pig, as well as contributed to the deaths of Simon and Piggy. All these events started after Jack killed his first pig and without the paint to disguise the hunters, that would have never happened. Also, the war paint can symbolize power over the boys. Not only does killing the pig cause Jack to become more of a leader, but it also caused the boys to lose all sense of society. The paint represents the boys new personalities on the island and shows how they changed from the start. As the novel progressed, the war paint never re-appeared, but because it caused the boys to kill a pig, it changed the way the boys lived and what they lived for on the island. It caused them to think more about hunting and food than getting rescued.
Parachute Man-
There is a war going on for the rest of the world, outside of the boy's island. A parachuter was killed,
and landed dead on the island. All the boys thought that the parachuter was the beast and began to get worried and go crazy. This man symbolizes fear amongst the boys because they are afraid of the beasty. Simon said that man's essential illness was fear and that the beasty was not actually real. Therefore, the dead parachuter can symbolize the unreal horror that the boys have since the beast is a figment of their imaginations. Also, this dead body shows how savage the boys are. They killed Simon because they thought he was the monster during their chant dance and killed a mother sow to give as a peace offering to the beast. The boys continued to go crazy and the essential cause of that was because they were scared of the unknown things on the island. Because there was something, the parachuter, that looked like it could be harmful, the boys automatically jumped to conclusions that this was the beast. Therefore, this body can symbolize both fear and savageness between all the boys. The dreaded images of the beast has caused them to now act inhumane and to turn into beasts themselves. Fear has over powered the boys, causing them to stray further away from society and turn against each other.
The Conch Shell-
The conch shell is arguably the most important symbol throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel,Piggy stumbles upon the shell shortly after meeting Ralph in the first chapter.
Piggy proposed they use it as a method of control over the group of boys, similar to a 'talking stick'. As the plot progresses, the conch shell becomes increasingly important to the last morsels of civilization on the island. Towards the middle of the novel, civilization starts to rapidly deteriorate, though the conch shell still remains effective. This shows the boys still do have civil minds and traces of civil conduct, despite their actions in recent chapters. The lack of supervision and civil conduct on the island sends all the boys into a frenzy by the end of the novel after having lost the two most civil boys, Simon and Piggy. The conch shell acts a their last resort of civilization and humanity before they all become cannibal. The unfortunate conclusion of the conch shell occurs in the last chapter, when Roger smashes it in the raging conflict ultimately between Ralph and Jack. This symbolizes the absolute absence of any morsel of society, morphed into a dystopia.
The Signal Fire-
On the beach shore of the island, the boys have built a signal fire. The purpose of the signal fire is to alert people that the boys are on the island. Planes above might see the fire and come save them! This fire is a symbol of hope. The fire is the boys only resource to signal the outside world. It completely controls whether they will be rescued or not. The signal fire is lit by Piggy’s glasses, so whoever has Piggy’s glasses pretty much has control over the fire, therefore controlling chances of being rescued. This causes much dispute between the island boys, and results in Piggy’s glasses being sought after, stolen, and ultimately broken. Also, the boys need the fire to cook food which causes even bigger issues. When the groups split, they steal fire from each other. From the start, Jack never liked the signal fire and thought it was stupid. Ironically, the fire was what eventually got them rescued in the end!
The Beastie-
The beastie symbolizes fear of the unknown in this novel. The boys all think that there is “something out there” on the island which gets all of them anxious and paranoid. The beastie is simply a made up creature that gives them a reason to be scared. There is no real beastie, only a dark, thick, frightening forest. The island is huge and the boys are very afraid of what could be on it. Ralph, Piggy, Simon, the littluns, and even Jack are freaked out by the thought of all the animals and "beasts" on the island. The boys are all scared and they have no adults to calm them. The beastie is just a small thing that represents all the big things the boys are afraid of on the island.
Simon's Clearing-
Simon's clearing symbolizes a small portion of peace and serenity in the middle of a chaotic society. When surrounded by nothing but savages, riots, and arguments, Simon, being the most sane and civil boy on the island, escapes daily from the chaos and dystopian society he and the other boys are trapped in. His clearing is set apart from the rest of the island, as an open space with colorful plantings and animals roaming peacefully. Like the conch, Simon's clearing is Simon's reassurance of any morsel of civilization left for him. When Simon visits the clearing each day, he reflects on the day's occurances and clears his mind while gazing at the colorful surroundings. Perhaps the clearing eased Simon's efforts to remain sane. The serenity of the clearing was entirely diminished when the mother sow was brutally killed, which is elaborated upon in the next symbol explanation.
The Head of the Mother Sow-
The killing of the mother sow in Simon's clearing symbolizes absolute savagery and brutality. In such a serene setting, the brutal
murder of a mother sow in front of her offspring makes it clear that the boys have really lost their sanity and resorted to savagery. Their reaction showed no signs of regret. Instead, they continued their ceremonial chanting and rejoiced in their freshly killed meat. At the start of the novel, Simon, Ralph, and Jack went to go explore the island for any humans, and came across a pig. Jack suggested they kill it, (foreshadow of savagery), but all three boys remained tentative. By the end, almost all of the boys find deep, yet guilty satisfaction in killing their own meat and use it as a level of power. After they kill the mother sow they put the head on a stick and plant it in the middle of Simon's clearing, symbolizing total savagery and inhumanity. Soiling the peace and serenity of Simon's clearing with the mother sow's bloodied head is a metaphor for the book as a whole. Like the clearing, the boys start out innocent and peaceful. By the end, savage conduct had overwhelmed civil constraints.
The Boulder-
Piggy was killed by a large boulder pushing him off the cliff. This boulder symbolizes the true savageness in the novel. When Roger physically pushed the boulder, it revealed the real fearlessness to kill of the boys. The boys went totally insane and the boulder was the last straw. However, the boys somewhat learned from their mistakes because in the end they began to cry and were upset about killing Piggy and Simon. The boulder actually "pushed the boys over the edge" (no pun intended) in terms of craziness and savageness. It was the last huge bad event before they were rescued. By killing Piggy, with the boulder, it symbolized the savageness and unbridled ferocity of the boys.